there's not one shred of evidence i'm anti-israel, not one vote that hurt israel. he denied he is soft on iran, defending the stance against unilateral u.s. sanctions on iran saying they don't work and they just isolate the united states. joining me now, retired army colonel jack jacobs and also politics reporter for "roll call." colonel, i'll start with you in this discussion. many people talked about the dynamic of the confirmation hearing and you have john mccain who once praised chuck hagel, even saying that he could be secretary of state. now going after this war hero, two war heroes, if you will, together and what will likely not be a glorious moment but to give us all pause. what do you make of the dynamic here? much of the praise of john mccain and the credibility is the fact he served and same is said for chuck hagel? >> there's a lot of things at work here. one of them is the senate's opportunity to assert itself in an environment of which the president's won re-election and they don't want him to do anything he wants. they're also very muched concerned g